Monthly Archives: September 2013

The much awaited Arena is out on Mercenaries, along with the other bunch of goodies that we promised with the v1.05 patch update. The list of changes for v1.05 has been attached below for the benefit of those who have no idea of what I’m talking about.

Release Build v1.05

Notification
– A client update to v1.05 from all previous versions of the game is required to play Mercenaries.

Gameplay ChangesDivisions

– Brigades may be added into multiple Divisions. Brigade locking has been done away with to promote more games.

Border Skirmishes

– The difficulty and rewards of Border Skirmishes have been tweaked to be more rewarding to the player.

– A larger repertoire of AI Border Defenders has been introduced. Tougher Brigades will start showing up as players progress during the week.

– The “Hardened” buff is now only introduced after 24 Border Skirmishes victories.

– Minor Contracts (and select Major Contract assignments) now induce a cooldown of 20 hours on the assigned Brigade. This cooldown only affects the Minor Contract eligibility of the brigade.

Minor Contracts

– The veterancy of a Brigade now increases the completion chance of Minor Contracts by 3% per level.

*NEW* Stonewater Arena
– The Stonewater Arena has been opened to Commanders eager to draw blood!
– Arena rounds are limited to 15 minutes per turn. A countdown timer is shown above the Round Counter – be sure to make your turns swiftly.
– To enter the Arena, a wager of 500 silver is required. Victory earns you your opponent’s wager… after Stonewater’s cut.
– Players gain Renown based on an ELO rating system. This rating system matches players with similar Renown.
– The Arena Leaderboard ranks players according to their Renown. Tap the “Leaderboard” button in the Stonewater Arena page to display leaderboard rankings.

*NEW* Herald
– The Herald allows players to quickly access on-going arena and multiplayer games.
– A summary of the player’s recent activity is shown in Reports.
– Announcements and news items are shown in the News section.
– A catalogue of gameplay hints is accessible from the Herald.

*NEW* Major Contract
– A Major Contract continuing Makkre’s tale may now be obtained on the Contracts map.
– Completing the enclosed series of missions unlocks the “Dies Irae” Brigade.
– Once completed, the contract will reset to its initial state, allowing players to replay the content.

*NEW* Traits
– 3 new set of Traits have been added. To accommodate these new traits, the commander level cap has been raised to 15.
– The new traits are:

Level 11: “Strategic” – Increases the damage of Support Elements by 5%.

– The level requirement for the level 10 Traits “Regimented” and “Strong Willed” have been lowered to require level 9. Players who have already picked these traits will not be required to respec.
– The level 3 trait “Cunning Demeanour” has been redesigned. It now increases the completion chance of Minor Contracts by 5% instead of reducing Brigade cooldown.

*NEW* Brigades
– The brigade “Il Panello” can now be recruited via the Hiring Grounds.
– The brigade “Cat’s Pyjamas” can now be recruited via the Hiring Grounds.
– The brigade “Wretched Sons” can now be recruited via the Hiring Grounds.
– The brigade “Baintreacha Fir” can now be recruited via the Hiring Grounds.
– The brigade “Dies Irae” can be obtained by completing the Major Contract “Chasing Shadows”.
– The brigade “Hanson & Sons” will be awarded to players who have obtained all 153 Medals in Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion.

*NEW* ElementsNil Athair Grenadiers

– Elite Sotran Infantry able to burst their way through enemy lines. They are able to fling grenades to damage and nullify the Armour Rating of their targets.

Runecasters

– A Support Element, the Runecasters’ abilities are designed to disrupt defensive strategies.

Mortar Battery

– A support Element, the Mortar Battery is able to shell enemies across a long distance with their “Mortar Volley”. This ability may only be used after 2 Rounds have elapsed.

Jackdaw Sapper

– A support Element, the Jackdaw Sapper is able to erect Tellion Towers on the battlefield. The “Build Tower” ability may only be used after 2 Rounds have elapsed.

Balance Changes
– All Infantry Elements gain the ability “Assault”. Assault grants a manoeuvring Infantry Element an additional 10% critical hit chance on its move. This effect is only active during the battle phase.
– Braccian Elders HP reduced to 80, from 90.
– Braccian Elders have gained the ability “Lockdown”.
– Foxglove Skullslingers have regained 1 movement point, from 7 to 8.
– Foxglove Skullslingers now have 35 Ranged Skill, down from 50.
– Ulfsark Warband now have 10% Critical Hit Chance, down from 20%.
– The Earthshield Veterans have gained the “Shield Advance” ability. This ability is only usable in formation.
– Gralo now has the “Unbreakable” ability.
– The ability “Windwall” now has a Brace effect on top of its current effect.
– Tremithus Stavros has gained the aura “The Gilded Path”.
– Javier B’Elros has gained the “Punt” ability.
– Casca Argentus has gained the “Shield Bash” ability.
– The Veteran medal now adds 4 hp, down from 6.
– The Survivor medal now adds 2 hp, down from 3.
– Assault and Defence medals now add 6 Attack Skill and Armour Rating respectively, up from 5.
– The Combat medal now adds 8 Attack Skill and Armour Rating, up from 5.

Brigade Changes
– The Cardani Sunsouls in “Nisshonen” have been moved to the rear of the brigade.
– “Mallico’s Madmen” now have an Earthbound Windswept in place of one of its Ravenborne Light Cavalry.
– “Nettlesong Lurkers” now have an additional Primrose Pain Harvester.
– The core brigades “3rd Tellions”, “1st Varish”, “3rd Varish”, “3rd Sotrans” have been updated.

Gameplay Fixes
– Cainlaw Pikes are now required to be in Deuce Formation for the “Schiltron” effect.
– Braccian Phalanx are no longer required to be in Deuce formation to activate “Unbreakable”.
– The Wheeling command is now considered a move and does not grant the wheeling formation the “Schiltron” effect.
– The abilities “Unbreakable” and “Zealot’s Will” now grant immunity to the “Lob Skulls” Morale Broken effect.
– Ensnaring an already ensnared Element now refreshes the “Ensnared” status effect.
– Updated incorrect buff and debuff icons.
– An issue causing the miscalculation of initiative rolls on Round 1 of each mission has been resolved.
– Zone of Control is now correctly removed from a Formation that Wheels.
– A bug preventing Trines moving into a valid position has been resolved
– Crashes caused by abilities such as Acid Volley, Fix It Now, Battle Remedy and Molten Spray have been fixed.

Misc Improvements
– A countdown timer for random multiplayer games is displayed above the Round Counter.
– Destination markers are now shown on the battlefield when an Element that has been issued a movement command is selected.
– Abilities that inflict damage on tiles now display markers on the battlefield.
– When a formation is given the Break/Join formation command, it will now clearly show that Zone of Control is removed.
– The Codex has been updated with the latest gameplay changes. Screenshots have been added to better explain each gameplay section.
– Fixed an issue where the player is sometimes unable to close the codex.
– Updated several ability and buff icon and descriptions.
– Tutorial Slides have been updated to reflect new changes.
– Fixed errors in the Codex and other pages.
– Fixed a number of memory leaks and crashes.
– Everyplay now works on iOS7.

We’re mad stoked about the changes, and we’re sure it’ll be for the better – after all many of these changes came from the opinions of our players… so we’re putting Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion on sale for a week, til 19th September 2013. It’s going off at 50% so if you haven’t gotten it yet, get it NOW.

Feedback for the Android build has been pretty good. Aside from UI issues (which were expected) the build has been pretty stable and working for most of the players.

We’ve encountered issues with 1-2 devices, but overall, things are looking positive. I hope to have some screenshots up for you guys soon enough! Will try to update as often as I can as well because once we are done with Mercenaries, we can complete Scourge of Estellion for Android as well! =)

About Witching Hour Studios

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